Teaching Old Hellhounds New Tricks
by Sunshine Dust
Summary: Mugen, Jin, and Fuu haven't seen each other in three years, but someone has given Mugen an assassination job that will bring their paths back together. Will the guys be given a reason to finish their fight after all?
1. Fuu

No surprise: I don't own Samurai Champloo, or any of its characters. And I wouldn't want to - their awesomeness would be way too much pressure for me to handle.

* * *

Part One:

Fuu

A warm breeze fluttered a line of laundry hung to dry behind a modest dwelling that doubled as a quaint tea shop. With her head solemnly bowed, Fuu stood atop the knoll a short distance behind her home. At her feet was a tiny mound of fresh dirt covered in a cluster of pebbles and marked with a stick.

She said quietly to the little grave, "I hope you liked living with me all these years. You were always such a good friend to me." She smiled sadly as she continued: "I'll always remember how you saved me from that crazy Xavier guy – and how you bit Mugen to keep him from stealing our savings from my pocket… Really, from the moment I found you, I knew you'd be the best pet any girl could have…"

She trailed off and a few tears ran down her face. Unable to think of anything else to say she said a short prayer for her tiny friend.

"I'll miss you, Momo," she whispered before she turned to walk back to her house.

It was time for her tearoom to open. Having to burry her squirrel had taken up more of her morning than she'd realized and she was still setting out the table mats when someone stepped into the shop.

"Sorry," she said, not turning around right away. "I'm running a little late today! Sit wherever you'd like and I'll-"

"No rush, Fuu," said a familiar, friendly voice. It was Goro, a young man from the village who had taken to visiting her shop nearly every day now. He had bought some cheap land down the road a year ago to grow vegetables on but wasn't having much luck. Of course, that didn't seem to stop him trying.

Fuu didn't honestly think he would be able to grow a single edible thing. He was unorganized and too easily distracted to give a farm the proper attention. In fact, she took his recent increase in patronage as a sign that he might be loosing heart – which was bad for him, but good for her as she wouldn't have to listen to him talk about tilling soil all morning.

"Hi, Goro," she said, plastering a smile on her face. "You want the new tea flavor today?"

But the man was frowning at her in concern, and she realized she hadn't even stopped to wipe the tearstains from her face in her hurry to open. She whirled around as if to fetch his tea, hoping he hadn't noticed too much.

But, unlike what most of the polite men in the village would have done, he chose to bring it up and embarrass her.

"Why are you crying, Fuu?" he cried.

"I'm not!" she snapped, going into the kitchen to begin the tea.

Of course, Goro followed her to the doorway. "Okay, then why _were_ you crying?"

She glared at him for his nosiness, but it didn't deter his anxious expression. She shook her head, irritated, and poured some hot water into a teapot. She figured it wouldn't hurt to tell him since they were presently alone.

"I'm fine," she insisted before explaining further. "It's just my pet squirrel died last night and I had to burry him this morning."

"I'm sorry, Fuu," he said, and his sympathy was genuine.

She busied herself with putting the tea leaves into the pot. "Really, I'm okay. I'd had him for a long time and he was just old. I am sad, but I'm not going to sob all over the place when I have a business to run."

"Why not?"

Fuu stopped in mid reach for a cup and peered over her shoulder at him. "Really?"

"Yes. He was a beloved pet, he deserves to be dearly missed."

She stared wide-eyed at him for a second, then she felt the lump return to her throat and her lip trembled. "Good, because I really do miss him!" she wailed, giving up the fight and letting the tears come freely. Goro stepped farther into the kitchen and patted her shoulder comfortingly, unabashed by her dramatic display.

"He was so cute. He had huge eyes and a teeny white mark on his forehead that looked like a little moon. He was portable and he would snuggle up to me at night. He was even good at gambling…"

She rambled on about Momo for several minutes before another voice interrupted her.

"Hello?" called a man from the tearoom.

Fuu attempted to collect herself, wiping her eyes and nose on the nearest cloth as she shooed Goro out of the kitchen. "Go ahead and sit down," she ordered through sniffles. "I'll bring you your tea."

The young man obeyed and left the kitchen. She could hear him telling the man out front that she would be in shortly – which she found a little presumptuous since it wasn't his shop.

Once she was presentable at last, she put Goro's tea on a tray and brought it out to him. He winked at her, which she supposed was meant to be reassuring. Paying him little mind, she addressed the new customer.

"What can I get for you, Sir?" she beamed, hoping he wouldn't see through her like Goro had.

"Water please," he said.

Before she could politely tell the man to order something of worth or get out, someone cut her off.

"Sorry, pal. She'll only serve water to paying customers."

Fuu gasped and whirled around, but her eyes only found Goro, who was sitting by the doorway. However, he hadn't spoken. The owner of the voice – one she knew as well as she did her own – lifted the door hangings out of his way as he stepped inside, a fiendish grin tugging at the corner of his lips.

"But I know she'll give you a hundred dumplings if you save her fingers," he added snidely.


	2. Mugen

Part Two:

Mugen

"Save her fingers?" asked the confused customer.

"MUGEN!" Fuu shrieked, joyously lunging at her old friend and nearly knocking him backwards as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Holy shi-"

"-Oh my god, I can't believe it's you! I was just thinking about you and Jin today," she told him. Then she pulled back and quickly looked him over:

It had been three and a half years since they'd last seen each other, but the changes in Mugen were subtle. His hair was no better – however, it was clean – and his stubble was just as patchy and unkempt. He was still lean, though slightly more filled out and a bit less starved-looking. His clothes were the most noticeable difference; they were obviously much nicer than the rags he used to wear, despite him wearing them wrong. His untucked gi was dark red and it complimented him quite well.

Fuu was wondering who had polished Mugen up when he said, "Thinking of us, huh?"

"Yeah. Momo made me think of you," she explained.

She hadn't noticed, but Goro had risen from his seat, greeted the jilted customer, and suggested a suitable tea.

"Who's Momo?" Mugen asked.

"My flying squirrel," she reminded him with some irritation. "He died last night."

"Oh, that thing. It bit me," he recalled. "What'd you do? Sit on it?"

Fuu snarled back, "No! He just got old! And what's that supposed to mean anyway? Are you saying I'm fat?"

His wicked grin was back. "Nah. Only your butt is big. If the rest of you were fat, you'd have bigger boobs."

Hearing this, Goro made an outraged noise in her defense, but Fuu didn't give him a chance to say anything else. She promptly whacked Mugen on the forehead with an empty tea tray that was handy. "Idiot!"

He bristled immediately. "Hey! I come to visit you and this is how you treat me!"

"You're such a jerk! We haven't seen each other in over three years and all you do is call me fat! You didn't even ask how I've been!"

"I didn't get to that part."

But a perturbed female voice outside ended their argument abruptly: "Mugen? Mugen!"

"Who's that?" asked Fuu.

Mugen sighed and turned out of the shop, followed by the pink-clad owner, who left Goro to serve her customer his tea.

A pretty woman wearing a violet kimono was standing, hands on hips, with a less than happy expression on her face as she watched Mugen approach. She cut him off in the middle of his, "Hey, Babe," with a sharp smack over the head.

Fuu could only gawk at the stranger, but Mugen growled and clenched his fists, saying, "The next woman who hits me is gonna regret it!"

"You deserve what you get," the woman said mater-of-factly. "I can't believe you left me behind!"

"It's not like I left town without you or anything," Mugen countered. "You should use those fine legs of yours more often, instead of talking."

"I was getting directions," she told him indignantly.

He scratched his neck absentmindedly. "Why? I know where I'm going."

She sighed and threw her hands up in the air. "Well, you should've said so. I'm pregnant, not clairvoyant."

Fuu's mouth dropped open for a second time. '_Did she say pregnant?_'

The woman noticed her then. "Oh. Is she who you were looking for?" she asked Mugen.

He lazily replied, "Uh-huh. That's Fuu."

"Hello," said Fuu, bowing.

"Hi! I'm Yatsuha, Mugen's wife."

"WHAT?!"

"I know, that's what my parents said too when I brought him home," Yatsuha laughed.

Fuu wasn't really displeased, just very, very shocked. "Wow… Congratulations! I guess that explains why he looks better taken care of."

Yatsuha leaned in closer to her and said, "I made him wear blood red. You know, to cut down on stains."

Fuu could only nod and laugh uncertainly at this comment and gathered it was safe to assume Mugen had not settled down in any way other than marriage. "Would you two like something to eat?" she offered, wanting to change the subject. "It's on the house."

Mugen perked up at this.

"Thanks! I'm starving," proclaimed Yatsuha.


	3. Decision

Part Three:

Decision

As Mugen and Yatsuha ate her out of house and home, Fuu bubbled over with questions.

"So, how long have you been married?"

Mugen left his wife to answer her as he stuffed more dumplings into his mouth.

"Almost two years now," Yatsuha said, as happy to talk as she was to eat. "These dumplings are amazing."

"You think _all_ food is amazing now," Mugen pointed out.

But that only made her smile more radiant as her hand went to her belly. "Well, maybe your kid just likes _all_ food – kind of like you."

Fuu glanced at Yatsuha's midsection, but if she was showing at all, it was hidden by her kimono. "So will this be your first child?" she asked.

"Yeah. Our first child, and thus my last assignment for a while," she replied with a touch of regret in her voice.

"Assignment?" said Fuu.

Mugen's eyes shifted watchfully to Goro as he approached their table. The young man excused his interruption and bowed politely to Fuu's guests before telling her: "That customer just left. He said he enjoyed the tea, but he paid me instead. Should I just put it with my bill?"

With a shock, Fuu realized she had completely forgotten about the man. Feeling both embarrassed that Goro had served her customer and grateful to him for doing it, she blushed and waved the offered money away. "No. You earned it more than I did. Keep it, and your bill."

"But-"

She interrupted him with a huge smile and finally returned his wink. "See you again tomorrow, Goro?"

He hesitated for a moment as his cheeks flushed. Then he bowed once more – "Of course!" – and left the tearoom.

Fuu turned back to the couple before her and found Mugen's eyes on her.

"You're a terrible businesswoman," he remarked.

"It's your fault I forgot him," she bit back. "Now what were you saying about an assignment, Yatsuha?"

"Well, this one is Mugen's job, but we usually travel together," she explained. "We mostly work for my clan."

"Huh?" Fuu gave her a befuddled look.

"Oh, we're ninjas for hire… well, _I_ am. Mugen is just for hire."

'_No wonder he married her_,' Fuu thought.

"You'll never guess who we're going to see on this job," Mugen smirked. "I'm supposed to kill some rich guy in the town where Jin lives."

"Jin?" Fuu gasped. "You're kidding!"

"Nope. We're gonna mooch a room off him so we don't have to pay for a hotel." With this he crammed four dumplings in his mouth at once.

This set off an alarm in Fuu's head. "Hey," she said slowly, "is that why you came here? For a free meal?"

"No. Of course not," Mugen muttered sarcastically around his mouthful of food.

Fuu snatched his bowl away. "No more food you!" Ignoring his glare, she left the table and went back to the kitchen for a moment.

Mugen eyed Yatsuha's remaining dumplings and aimed his chopsticks for one. However, he was intercepted by his wife casually holding the blade of her tanto to his throat. He grinned mischievously, but knew better than to keep trying. The expecting woman was very serious about her food.

They were distracted by Fuu calling from the kitchen: "Would you like some more dumplings or tea before we go, Yatsuha?"

"We?" asked the lady ninja. Mugen just raised a curious eyebrow.

Fuu exited the kitchen with a swiftly assembled knapsack slung over one shoulder looking high spirited and ready for the road. "I've decided to go with you! I haven't been on a trip in ages, and I _won't_ let you see Jin without me."

Mugen and Yatsuha exchanged glances, shrugged '_why-not?_', and rose from the table as well.

"Great," Yatsuha beamed. "Now I'll have someone to talk to besides Ryukyu-boy here!" She pointed at the man now cleaning out his ear with his finger.

Fuu smiled back. "I know exactly what you mean."


	4. Traveling

Part Four:

Traveling

Dusk was little help in cooling the three of them as they trekked over an uneven road in the early evening. Fuu and Yatsuha were walking together, talking. Mugen stayed a few paces ahead and peered over the local farmlands to their right without much interest.

As they conversed and got to know each other better, Fuu found herself wondering how this nice woman had ended up with a guy like Mugen for a husband. Quite frankly, she was amazed Mugen would get married at all – even to a ninja. He had always struck her more as a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am sort of guy. But now he was going to be a _father_ as well – that just seemed out of place when she thought of Mugen.

"Oh, he drives me crazy sometimes," Yatsuha admitted, "but he's worth whatever trouble he makes. Besides, I'm no angel myself. And you know, I don't want to give him too much credit, but I think he's actually trying to be a good husband. Maybe not in the classical sense, but towards me anyway."

"Wow," Fuu said. "He must really love you."

"For a kunoichi, you sure are talkative," said Mugen to his wife. He had stopped and let them catch up. "I thought ninjas were all secrets and mystery."

Yatsuha actually hooked an arm around his neck and kissed him in the middle of the road. "I'm not telling any of my secrets," she told him wryly, "just yours."

Okay, thought Fuu, so maybe she was a pretty fitting match for Mugen. She certainly wasn't shy, or worried about his temper – not to mention, she was a killer too, no matter how nice she was. From what Fuu could tell, Yatsuha wasn't trying to change him or force him into anything; she just let him live and loved him. They were free together and happy that way… most of the time.

Moments before, in response to one of Fuu's curious questions, Yatsuha had said with a laugh, "Yeah, we fight all the time. But troglodyte over there isn't too good with his words so it turns physical most of the time. Always having weapons handy doesn't help much either (one time I even broke his hand) but he always ends up getting turned on and we, uh… make up."

Presently, Fuu was getting tired and wondered when they were going to stop for the night. She heaved a sigh and gazed longingly into the forest to the left of the road, thinking it would adequately serve the purpose of shelter.

"Maybe we should find a place to sleep," Yatsuha suggested, her pretty eyes darting toward Fuu for a second.

Mugen grimaced at the forest as well, then pointed vaguely toward the trees. "How about in there somewhere?"

"Great," chirped Yatsuha, immediately taking the lead as they took their venture off the road.

Following with Mugen, Fuu stumbled over a root and fell into a bush with a shrill, "Waah!"

Mugen paused in amusement as he observed her fruitless struggle to escape the clinging shrubbery. "Gotten even less graceful, have we?"

"Will you just help me out!" she commanded.

His sword was in his hand before she could protest and suddenly metal, twigs, and leaves were zipping furiously around her. When she unclenched her eyes she was sitting on the ground with a mass of plant carnage surrounding her – but she was free.

"Jee… thanks," she breathed, more thankful still that she had all of her extremities. "Maybe next time you could just pull me out."

They traveled like this for several days. Of course, things were much easier than when Fuu had been alone with Jin and Mugen. This time, she and her companions had some funds to live off of – though at night they still slept under the stars. She was exhausted from keeping up with Mugen and Yatsuha, but she felt exhilarated and nostalgic as she woke up to trees and the smell of earth beneath her each morning.

Then, early on the fourth day, they reached the kind of civilization only a decent sized town could provide. The three of them paused on a hillside taking in the first sight of their destination below. Their nostrils were greeted lovingly by the smell of breakfast carried upon the wind.

"Do we have enough money to eat like pigs?" Yatsuha asked hopefully.

"I don't think so," Fuu answered apologetically. The pregnant woman looked severely disappointed.

"Don't worry about it," Mugen said dismissively as he picked the pace back up. "We've got a free meal waiting for us once we get there."

The women scampered after him, Fuu saying indignantly: "We can't just mooch off of Jin the whole time."

"Why not? It's not like he'll say no," Mugen pointed out. "It would put shame on his non-existent family if he kicked us out."

"Mugen!"


	5. Arrival

Part Five:

Arrival

Fuu gawked open mouthed at an enormous house nestled within a well tended garden. The stunning place obviously belonged to some local gentry. It was almost dreamlike in its perfection and the garden called for visiting feet to tour its gravel path up to the porch. The three of them had stepped just within the entrance of the bamboo wall surrounding the property. A gardener, deep in concentration, ignored the newcomers as he silently toiled with the nearby shrubs, merely moving around where they stood.

"Very funny, Mugen," said Fuu, who was unable to take her eyes off of the gorgeous home. "Now where does Jin live?"

"Are we seriously staying here?" Yatsuha asked, her eyes lighting up as she took in the wonderful details of the greenery on either side of them.

Mugen didn't appear impressed by the house. "Yep," he said, and then walked up the path toward the porch.

"You're kidding!" Fuu exclaimed as she and Yatsuha accompanied him. "He actually lives here? Does he work for the owner?"

"Nope," Mugen replied.

"So he _is_ the owner? Why didn't you mention he was rich before now?"

Mugen never answered as a figure on the porch caught his attention. An attractive woman in a yellow kimono straightened from her bent position over a vase of cut flowers when she heard their voices.

"Does she look familiar to you?" Mugen pondered aloud.

Fuu had to concentrate on the woman's kind face for a moment before it hit her. The first and last time they had seen her, they were helping Jin rescue her from a brothel. She whispered to Mugen, "Yeah, she's the prostitute Jin freed in Hamamatsu!"

Yatsuha overheard this and smiled. "Wow, this Jin sounds like a pretty decent guy."

"Depends on the time of day," Fuu retorted dryly.

But she quickly shut her mouth as they reached the porch and the woman bowed politely to them. "Hello," she said, her voice gentle and welcoming. "Can I help you?"

"We're looking for Jin," Mugen told her bluntly.

Fuu shoved him out of the way and took a more respectful approach. "Hello, you probably don't remember us, but we're friends of Jin. We-"

"Of course I remember you!" said the woman, her face suddenly alight. "You must be Fuu, and," she smiled at the scruffy-haired man, "you could only be Mugen. I am Shino, Jin's wife."

Fuu had expected this from the moment she recognized the woman, but she hadn't dared assume in case she was wrong. Remembering herself, she introduced Yatsuha as well before Shino ushered them into the genkan, taking her arranged flowers with her. They removed their shoes as she set the vase down and said, "Jin isn't in at the moment, but he should be back very soon."

The house was as lovely inside as it was outside. Everything from the tatami mats to the painted byobu screens was classy and simple. There was nothing garish or extravagant about the place but at the same time it was plain to see Jin and Shino were loaded.

"It's beautiful," Fuu breathed.

"Thank you," Shino said, beaming. "Though, I can't claim much of it as my doing - we've only lived here for a few months. Jin was a bodyguard for the previous owner, Hisakawa Osamu, who died and left him the house."

"Some bodyguard he is," Mugen mocked.

Yatsuha shushed him but Shino chuckled, explaining: "Hisakawa-sama died of old age. He had no family left and Jin was his closest friend before he passed, so here we are in this wonderful home."

This explained a lot for Fuu, who couldn't believe a ronin like Jin would have been able to get that rich within a mere three years.

While they waited for Jin, Shino offered them breakfast and tea. She was one of the sweetest people Fuu could ever recall meeting. As they ate, she answered each question that popped out of Fuu's and Yatsuha's prying mouths. How long has she and Jin been wed? Nearly six months now. Does Jin ever provide stimulating conversation? Sometimes. Is he a good husband? Very much so. What does she put over the rice to make it taste so good? Gomashio.

Mugen remained relatively quiet as he stuffed his face, but he froze in mid bite when one of the fusuma doors slid open to emit a tall, indigo clad figure into the room.


	6. Jin

Part Six:

Jin

"Oh, there you are," Shino said, rising from the table to greet her husband. "You have visitors!"

Ever calm and straight-backed Jin barely had time to look from Shino to said company before his chest was hit by a small pink form, nearly knocking him backwards.

"Hello, Fuu," he said, smiling a little after the initial shock of her hug-attack.

"JIN! I'm so happy to see you!" she cried into his gi. Then she pulled back and looked him over as she had done Mugen.

He really didn't look any different at all. His hair was still long and pulled back, and he had replaced his destroyed blue gi with one of similar color. His katana and wakizashi were tucked in his belt as always, however no glasses were perched on the bridge of his nose, but that didn't change his appearance very much. It wasn't until she looked him in the eye that she noticed how he had changed. Those dark, narrowed eyes that had watched the world so coldly before were now… well, happier. It seemed Jin had finally found some contentment.

"Mugen is here with his wife, Yatsuha, as well," Shino said as she poured another cup of tea for her husband.

Jin and Mugen regarded each other. Neither man spoke but the air in the room seemed to thicken into a restrained anticipation. It felt to Fuu like they might whip out their swords and battle over the dining table then and there. However, Mugen shoveled a mass of rice into his mouth, officially ending whatever had passed between them. The room relaxed as benevolence was reinstated and Jin joined them at the table.

Shino took this strange pause in stride and continued being the courteous hostess as Yatsuha eyed Mugen curiously. Fuu simply changed the subject.

"Shino is obviously taking good care of you, Jin," she said brightly.

"Yes," he answered honestly in his flat dignified voice. He observed Mugen eat for a moment before adding, "I see someone has whipped you into shape as well."

Mugen glared at him over his rice bowl, but Yatsuha spoke first. "I'm sure it would've worked better if I'd used an _actual_ whip."

Jin didn't seem to have a response to this. Instead he turned back to Fuu: "And how have you been?"

Fuu perked up immediately. "I run my own teashop now," she told him proudly. "The town is small but my place is the only decent tea room, so I get plenty of business. I don't live too far from here, actually – it only took us three days walking. If I had known you were so close I would have visited you before now."

Empty dishes were beginning to pile up on the table, and Shino started gathering them. "Please, let me help you," Yatsuha offered, taking the bowls that were left and following Shino into the kitchen.

Fuu waited until the sliding door was shut before glaring pointedly at the two men sitting with her. "I saw that, you two," she snapped.

"What?" said Mugen indignantly.

"I thought you had put all that behind you!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jin muttered.

Fuu clenched her fists on the table. "Look, I know it's been a long time since you've had the chance to-"

But she had to stop as Shino and Yatsuha reappeared.

"Chance to what?" asked Yatsuha, once again taking her place beside Mugen.

"To… To have a… a…" Fuu struggled for an appropriate lie. 'Conversation' certainly wouldn't do…

"Shino," Jin suddenly interrupted. "Perhaps Fuu and Yatsuha would like to see the gardens."

Shino turned to the two women, her face bright. "Oh, you'll love it. It leads right down to the stream." She stood and opened the fusuma doors and waved for them to follow.

Fuu glowered over her shoulder at the two men, who did not stand. They merely watched each other across the table, oblivious to her warning looks. She lost sight of them as Shino affectionately took one of her hands and guided her and Yatsuha into the garden.


	7. Guys

Part Seven:

Guys

As soon as the door had slid back into place, separating the women from the men, Jin picked up his tea cup and drained it. Mugen glanced idly around the fine room as he twirled a chopstick between his fingers, waiting. Unhurriedly, Jin set his cup back down and fixed his eyes on the shaggy-haired man across from him.

"You look like less of a nerd without the glasses," Mugen commented with a lazy smirk.

"You look like less of a slob in those clothes," Jin retorted dryly. "Tell me, does your wife have to chain you to a post to bath you, like a house dog?"

Mugen grinned wickedly. "I wouldn't put it past her. She's pretty kinky with chains."

Jin almost smiled back. "I would expect nothing less from a ninja who was so comfortable in a brothel."

"It's pretty interesting that we both married floosies, huh?"

"Yes, but not very surprising."

"Heh, I guess not."

As Jin reached for the katana at his side, Mugen found his sword in front of his crossed legs. Metal gleamed as the weapons flew ringing from their scabbards into the open air over the table.

Jin's eyes narrowed behind the curtains of his bangs. "Who sent you?"

"You have to ask?" Mugen inquired, his own eyes glinting with the promise of battle. "You must be causing more trouble than I thought since you settled down."

"It would appear so. Shall we get down to business?"

Together they stood, swords still extended over the table. Then…

FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!


	8. Girls

Part Eight:

Girls

The garden in the back of the house was even more breathtaking than the one in the front. The path was curving and gentle like a miniature earthen river, coiling through the landscape at a serine pace. Each strategically placed plant had been allowed to grow into its natural shape and size but was well tended to, giving the garden a richness that nature did not often achieve on its own. In the afternoon glow, the place held a certain power over the three women strolling through it. The ponds mirrored the unadulterated blue of the sky above and the black pines and maples shaded them from the high sun.

Shino led them to a small pavilion where they sat on benches and watched the lively waters of the stream that backed up to the edge of the garden. The little open hut was so cool and pleasant that Fuu found her eyes growing comfortably heavy, her relaxed vision blurring the leaves of the Japanese maple hanging near the roof into a shapeless red mass. She felt peaceful here and all her previous concerns about leaving Mugen and Jin alone were plucked smoothly from her thoughts to be replaced by tranquility. Surely the two men couldn't get into too much trouble in such a short time. Fuu's eyes closed as she leaned against the short wall of the pavilion.

She dozed for a few minutes at most before she was awakened by Yatsuha's curious voice:

"Who's that over there?"

Fuu and Shino peered in the direction she was pointing in and spotted a woman in a silver kimono bustling about the back porch of a tiny house that was built in the same style as Jin's and Shino's.

"I didn't know there was even another house on your property," Fuu said to Jin's wife, whose tranquil face had tightened at the sight of the other woman.

"It was built for Hisakawa's widow after he died," Shino explained. "She did not appreciate being evicted from her large house, but her husband's will was very clear about her not getting any part of the money or property to herself."

"He had a wife and didn't pass his fortune onto her?" Yatsuha inquired incredulously. "That's a little heartless."

"If you knew her, you would not feel sorry for her. Hisakawa Hitomi is not a very pleasant woman." Shino's eyes narrowed slightly as she observed the widow sweeping off her small porch. "She was obviously terrible to her husband and now that he's gone, she and her Magistrate friend have caused Jin a lot of trouble since he became the land's owner. It doesn't matter that Jin had nothing to do with the arrangement and that he has shown her nothing but kindness. She seems to hate me even more – of course the feeling is mutual."

Hearing the blunt dislike in Shino's voice was a little surprising to Fuu. However, she figured if anyone could make Shino angry enough to talk that way, they must deserve it.

"Misery loves company," Yatsuha commented sagely, "and it hates seeing others happy. My childless sister-in-law started hating me the moment I told her I was pregnant. It can't be helped."

"I suppose you're right."

"Yeah," Fuu agreed, "don't let her ruin your happiness. There's nothing she can do to stop you and Jin from enjoying your life here."

Shino smiled at this. "Yes, that's true. Even if that awful Magistrate tries to push us around, we still have each other."

Fuu and Yatsuha wore identical expressions of wistfulness from the romance radiating off of Shino. If the men had been present they would have been undoubtedly disgusted with the female emotions swirling about at that moment.

"Hey, Fuu," said Yatsuha abruptly, as if struck by an important thought. "I never asked if you had anyone waiting for you back in your town. As successful as you've been with your tearoom, I'm sure you've caught plenty of eyes. You probably have to beat the guys off with a stick!"

Fuu laughed a little too loudly at this and her hands became suddenly preoccupied with the pins in her hair. "Uhhh, heh-heh… Yeah, the line goes right out the door. You wouldn't believe how many I've had to turn down! Ha ha ha!"

The mischievous grin on Yatsuha's face reminded Fuu forcibly of Mugen. "What about that super cheerful man that was doing your job for you when we visited?" she asked conspiratorially. "He seemed to really like you."

Fuu could feel her already pink face grow even warmer. "Oh, Goro? He's just a farmer from town – and not a very successful one either. But he's nice… Actually, now that I think about it, he's been nicer to me than anyone there. I think he kind of has a crush on me."

Shino beamed at her and she and Yatsuha leaned closer.

"Do you like him back?"

"Is he cute?"

"How long have you known him?"

"What's his sign?"

She was overwhelmed by the multitude of questions that tumbled out of their mouths and all she could mutter before they asked more was, "Well, I…" and "Uh, I guess," or the occasional, "I don't know." She'd never had to think about bubbly Goro so much in one sitting. On most days he was nothing more than her best customer.

Fuu was almost grateful for the loud crash that distracted everyone – until she saw who had caused it. The three women leapt to their feet when they spotted Mugen and Jin battling their way through the garden.


	9. Him!

Part Nine:

Him?!

"What are they doing!" cried Shino, her eyes horrorstruck as she watched Jin and Mugen swooping and charging between plants and tree trunks.

Fuu was torn between fury and panic at the sight. When would the two idiots grow up? They had wives for goodness sake! What if they ended up killing each other over some stupid competition?

Mugen was bending and twisting in unimaginable ways, dodging Jin's blade every time and coming up somewhere unexpected the next second. The ronin darted around his foe, his katana singing through the air faster than eyes could follow. Memories – none of them particularly pleasant – flashed through Fuu's brain as she recognized some of their attacks. Three years certainly had not wiped those from her mind.

Yatsuha was just as wide-eyed as Shino, but she looked more mesmerized than terrified. She focused on every move, taking in the precision of force and grace mingled with blinding speed, the arcs of gleaming metal, the billow of cloth. Actually, it seemed she rather liked the show – she was scarcely breathing.

They were as perfectly matched as ever. Despite Mugen's knack for picking up new moves, his borrowed ninja techniques were not helping him much. Jin adapted very quickly and knew the garden far better than his guest. It seemed both men had only gotten better since parting ways.

Mugen cleaved a branch from on of the maples as he swung his sword at Jin's head. The samurai jumped back, one foot splashing into the large pond directly behind him. As Mugen lunged at him again, Jin blocked with his katana and used the other man's momentum to make another leap backward onto the flat stepping stones that made a path from the bank to an island in the middle of the water. Mugen pursued him over the smooth rocks, never missing a step as they continued to move and fight. The shrubs on the pond island were rendered to twigs and stumps by the time Jin managed to knock Mugen into the water.

Fuu was shocked to see Jin plunge into the pond immediately afterward, so eager in the fight that he would forget some of his dignity to carry on with Mugen waist deep in water. They two men created such violent waves that the pond plashed against its bank. Where they battled, great sprays shot up from the surface as if the water too were trying to move out of the way of their swinging blades.

Shino couldn't take it anymore.

"We have to stop them!" she said frantically. She started to dash out of the pavilion, but Fuu caught her arm and wrestled her back under the roof.

"No!" she said urgently. "You can't! You'll get hurt!"

"They're going to kill each other!" Shino struggled powerfully against her restraining hands, nearly breaking away several times.

"You don't – understand," Fuu panted, "it's too dangerous. Yatsuha, help me."

But when Fuu looked around, the kunoichi had vanished. "Where…?" She and Shino whirled back toward the pond and saw the purple blur that was Yatsuha rushing over plants and stones to get to the fighters.

"Yatsuha, no!" screamed Fuu.

Mugen and Jin had made their way onto the rim of the far bank, unhindered by their wet clothes clinging to their skin. Droplets glinted through the air around them, flung from limbs, hair, and zooming weapons. The ninja skirted the water edge, running silently. Fuu had abandoned her struggle with Shino and was now sprinting with her over the manicured garden.

Fuu stumbled over a stone lantern and had just scrambled upright when there was an almighty scream of metal against metal. She looked up, terrified of what she would find. Shino had stopped only a few yards ahead of her, and farther on, silence reigned over the two men.

Yatsuha, standing like a small wall between them, had caught Mugen's sword with her tanto, and she held a needle sharp bo-shuriken just beneath Jin's chin. The force of Mugen's blow had been so strong, her arm shook under the strain of stopping it, and Jin's katana was frozen in mid-swing just inches from her side.

Mugen's battle-grin faded quickly and he glared at his wife. "Hey! Get out of the way," he snapped.

Yatsuha lowered the shuriken from Jin's throat and the samurai backed up a pace. She bowed to him and apologized while Mugen sighed and rolled his eyes. Then the ninja turned her small knife back on her husband. He didn't back up, but he eyed the weapon warily, knowing full well what she could do with it.

"Jin," breathed Shino, recovering and rushing to Jin's side. His and Fuu's eyes remained on the other couple.

Yatsuha closed the gap between her and Mugen in one movement. She snatched the sword from his hand and tossed it to the ground before advancing further, the tanto aimed between his eyes.

"You… You…" she seemed to be searching for a word foul enough for him, but soon gave up. "_Him_?" she demanded angrily. "I can't believe you! You knew the whole time…"

Mugen made no response.

Fuu was confused. She looked from Mugen to Jin and back again. Something had obviously gone straight over her head. She opened her mouth to ask what was going on, but she never got the chance.

"IDIOT!" shouted Yatsuha. In a whirlwind move, she kicked Mugen hard in the chest. With a painful "OOF!" he flew through the air and back into the pond.

Fuu stared open mouthed at Yatsuha as she stormed off. Shino tugged at Jin's gi and muttered something about dry clothes, physically pulling him from the spot and up the path. Fuu took one last fleeting glance at Mugen regaining his feet in the water before she followed the others, desperate for information.

All the while, the widow, Hisakawa Hitomi, tended to her back porch. She finished her chore and quickly went inside as Mugen shuffled back through the garden.


	10. Jackasses

Part Ten:

Jackasses

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" begged Fuu to little avail.

Jin had disappeared into a room down one of the halls branching from the sitting room while Shino fussed over his wet clothes. As she passed Fuu on her way into the kitchen, she didn't address her, instead muttering angrily about Mugen and something about dishonor.

Yatsuha was just as little help. She sat on her knees in a corner of the room, staring furiously at her lap. Fuu went to her, and tentatively sat down beside her.

"Are you alright?" she asked, frowning slightly.

"I'm fine," Yatsuha answered. "I just didn't expect this."

"Well, they've always been that way," Fuu said. "I thought you knew."

Yatsuha threw up her hands in a dramatic shrug. "I knew they were competitive, but I never realized they _hated_ each other!"

Fuu's frown deepened. "They don't really _hate_ each other. They just…well, they have a different kind of friendship – a very begrudging one."

"No, you don't understand," Yastuha said, shaking her head. "My clan didn't simply give Mugen this job. Another ninja was ready to be dispatched, but Mugen insisted that he take it himself. He went through a lot of trouble so he could come here –"

Fuu couldn't understand why this worried her so much. "He just wanted to see Jin –"

"No! He didn't come here to visit. _Jin_ is his target. Mugen came here to _kill_ Jin."

"What?"

"Ugh! I can't believe I didn't see this coming," Yatsuha growled disgustedly. "I should have known from the minute Shino said a Magistrate was trying to bully them. Lots of Magistrates come to us – I didn't think it could possibly be the same one…"

Fuu was shocked, but the feeling didn't last for long. After all, hadn't Jin and Mugen vowed to kill each other years ago? Of course Mugen would fight for the job of assassinating Jin – he'd want to finish the fight they started the first day they met. Plus, she would bet money Mugen didn't think some ninja would be able to handle Jin anyway.

"Yatsuha," she began hesitantly, "I still don't think Mugen hates Jin."

Yatsuha shook her head, wordlessly giving up on trying to convince Fuu.

"They do want to kill each other," Fuu said quickly, holding up placating hands, "but it's not what you think."

"Well, that's just too bad," snapped Shino. She was standing in the doorway listening to them talk. Fuu and Yatsuha cautiously peered up at her furious face as she continued: "They can murder each other after I'm dead! I finally have a happy life, and it doesn't work without Jin! I won't let that go."

With these words she stormed over to the fusuma door and flung it open, to snarl at a figure sitting on the back porch – Fuu had to lean forward to see it was Mugen with his hair and clothes dripping on the wood around his casually slouched form.

"Do you hear me, you shaggy, ill-mannered, moocher?" demanded Shino to his unresponsive back. "I can't believe you'd come into our home and act like a friend! I've never met a man so ignorant of all social observance!"

"Yeah, and you're really rude too," Yatsuha added furiously.

Mugen didn't answer either of them, and when he twisted around to look into the house his eyes met Fuu's. She knew he could see some small semblance of understanding in her expression, but she didn't want him to get the wrong idea. Because she had witnessed the forming of his and Jin's strange relationship, she understood it better than their wives, but she was just as angry as the other two women.

"They're right. Both you guys are jackasses," she told him, albeit gentler than Shino and Yatsuha.

Mugen made a face at her, saying, "Whatever," before shaking some of the water out of his hair.

She was a little surprised he didn't immediately start arguing with her, but maybe Yatsuha's kick had actually cowed him a bit.

"Yatsuha, I'm very glad to hear you didn't have anything to do with this," Shino began, looking at the purple-clad woman, "but I can't let him back into my house."

Yatsuha bowed her head at the hostess. "I understand. We'll leave."

"There's no need."

The three women looked around at the sudden extra voice to find Jin entering the room, changed into a silver gi and wrap pants and holding a large cloth in one hand. His hair was still rather wet, making it limper than usual.

"What?" demanded Shino.

"I said –"

"I heard you, but why would you want him to stay?"

Fuu watched as the tall samurai walked over to the fusuma and gave Mugen a narrow side glance. "Because," he said, "he wasn't going to kill me."

Shino stared at Jin, uncomprehending. "Wha – How do you know?"

"I could tell by the way he fought. I've seen him try harder over a stolen dumpling," Jin explained. At this point he hurled the cloth in his hand out of the door and hit Mugen on the back of the head with it. Mugen whirled around and scowled, calling Jin some unsavory names before using the cloth to dry himself off some.

Yatsuha exchanged a glance with Fuu, her shoulders visibly more relaxed. Then she stood and faced Jin. "So, you're not angry?" she inquired.

"Only at the people who wanted to hire ninjas to kill me," Jin assured her dryly. He looked once more at Mugen, now standing in the doorway. "Maybe you can explain – as this was _your_ mission."

Mugen regarded Jin as if he were simple. "Some hag and her boy-toy Magistrate want you dead – how much clearer can I get?"


	11. Problem

Part Eleven:

Problem

That night, inside the tiny house reserved for her just beyond her late husband's property, Hisakawa Hitomi was entertaining her own guest. She hadn't put on her finest kimono, but rather the one she looked the best in. It was made of thin black silk that cuddled close to the curves of her figure – being just barely into her fifties, her body hadn't lost all its graces just yet. The fine wrinkles around her eyes and mouth (more likely shout-lines than laugh-lines) had been slathered with creams to smooth them and she had fixed her hairdo into place with black wax to hide the silver strands.

Now her company, a portly man around the same age with a sad little goatee, sat in her tea room with her, impatient for some answers. He barely paid attention to her plainly displayed cleavage.

"Would you like more tea, Magistrate?" asked Hitomi, pouring the steaming liquid into the hefty man's cup before he could answer.

He made a little harrumph noise, but thanked her nonetheless. "Why is it you insisted I come here tonight, Hitomi?" he demanded. "I told you we shouldn't be seen together until after this ninja business is settled. I don't want rumors flying about and getting us stuck with legal charges."

"Pfft! Legal charges," the widow gracelessly scoffed, waving away his worries with a dainty hand. "It's perfectly legal to pay a _ninja_ to assassinate someone. That's why I didn't want to involve any other samurai – living next door to Bushido-boy is enough for me to deal with as it is."

"Yes, it's legal to hire ninjas for many purposes," conceded the Magistrate, "but I had to hire someone from a certain clan – one that handles, er… delicate situations like ours. If things go sour in the mission, they'll terminate the contract and I'll have to take the fall. The clan is too closely related to the police to get mixed up in maters of the law."

"I told you to go with the Uchiha clan, but you wouldn't listen –"

"What's gone wrong, Hitomi?" he interrupted, desperate to get to the point and leave her house. "Your message said there was a problem."

The attractive woman sighed and hardly attempted to hide her annoyance with the Magistrate before answering. "The man you hired came today – actually a man and two women came."

The Magistrate's eyes widened and he suddenly leaned toward her. "And?"

"Well, the man started fighting with that awful Jin, so I thought: 'Finally, I can have my house back and my dear Magistrate won't have to worry about being opposed by this upstart!' Naturally, I was thrilled at the sight – it was very intense watching them trying to kill one another in broad daylight. Then…" she broke the sentence with another frustrated sigh and locked eyes with the Magistrate. "Then one of the visiting women _stopped the fight_."

"St-stopped it?" sputtered the Magistrate nervously, sweating slightly under Hitomi's glare.

"Yes!" snapped the widow. "She told the hired man off and the lot of them stormed back into the house. I sent my servant over there to spy on them and he told me they were simply talking – Jin didn't have a scratch on him!" At this point she stood and loomed over her guest like a harpy positioning itself for an attack. "And do you know what my servant said they were talking _about_?"

His demanding nature now thoroughly quelled, the pudgy Magistrate's eyes where wide as they watched Hitomi warily. "Gomashio?"

"NO! _Not gomashio_!" she crowed furiously. "They were talking about _us_ and the mission! The mission _you_ said would be a secret! Why would a group of ninjas sit down and have a chat with their _TARGETS_?"

"I have no idea, Hitomi!"

"_Fix it_!"

"Yes, yes! Of course!" The Magistrate suddenly hopped to his feet and started backing toward the door.

"I don't care if you have to walk to the nearest ninja clan and threaten to burn their village down, just get someone who will _kill Jin_!"

"There's no one who wants that more than I do, Hitomi –"

"_I_ DO! _I_ want it more! Now go fix it!"

With that, the fat man bustled out of the room and from the widow's house, wondering what he had gotten himself into over some slight political differences with a wealthy samurai.

Still within, Hitomi deflated and plopped down onto some floor cushions. A glint of silver flashed in the lamplight as she whipped a tiny mirror from her obi in much the same fashion as a warrior with a concealed knife. She frowned during the scrutiny of her face when she noticed the little lines around her mouth looked deeper and longer than ever despite all her age-defying creams. This samurai business was aging her faster than any trials her dead husband had put her through.


	12. Plans

Part Twelve:

Plans

Fuu peered out the window of Jin and Shino's guestroom. The garden was just as beautiful in the half moonlight as it was during the day, but she had too much on her mind now to appreciate it. She shook her head for the thousandth time about Mugen and Jin's plan. Their conversation from earlier that evening played through her mind once again:

Jin was positive they would send someone else as soon as they realized he hadn't been killed on schedule, and Mugen and Yatsuha agreed.

"Well, that gives us a few days to get out of here, right?" Fuu said.

"What?" demanded Mugen. "Are you kidding?"

"You'd rather stay here and wait for the next party of assassins," Shino retorted.

"Yes," said Jin.

"Duh," Mugen smirked. "You obviously don't know us very well, lady."

Fuu shot to her feet. "No way! You two aren't just a couple of vagrants anymore," she shouted. "All that fighting was one of the reasons we were almost killed before!"

"And the reason we survived," Mugen pointed out.

"Don't kid yourself! Jin, you've got Shino to think of now, and Mugen, you've got Yatsuha and her baby to protect. You'd be even bigger idiots if you started a blood-feud now."

"We don't have a choice," Jin insisted in his infuriatingly calm manner.

Yatsuha nodded gravely. "My clan won't send another hitman unless the first one is killed," she told them. "The next one that comes will probably be hired in a hurry – it won't take them long to get here."

"So what do we do," breathed Shino, looking as though she were steeling herself for battle as well.

"We wait," Jin replied simply.

So that was what the five of them had decided on – to wait for the next attack and hold their ground. They had no idea who would come, or how many, but Jin and Shino were positive the widow Hisakawa was pulling the strings. They said she had a whipped magistrate to fund her misdeeds.

Fuu just hoped all of this wouldn't end disastrously. She couldn't watch her friends get themselves killed now, not when they had finally gotten their acts together somewhat. She knew they'd never be content if they couldn't make a stand and protect what they had gained over the last three years, but she didn't want to see them ripped to pieces again.

In the neighboring guestroom, she heard the muffled voices of Yatsuha and Mugen talking. It made her think of the last thing Mugen had said to her before Shino had shown her to the guest room.

Angry at the entire situation, Fuu had called him and Jin crazy for the umpteenth time since knowing them and stormed out of the room. However, Mugen caught up with her and stopped her in the hall with a hard stare.

"You know, people who have something to lose only fight harder," he growled defiantly. Then he was gone, disappeared into the other room, leaving her reeling in shock from the most profound thing she'd ever heard him say.

And he was right, of course. Even if she thought waiting around for more killers to come along was a mistake, she wasn't about to leave. The most important people to her were sleeping under this roof, and she'd stay with them like they had for her.

Next door, Mugen and Yatsuha's voices were becoming more and more clipped. Even through the wall, Fuu could sense the fight forming between them. Yatsuha was the first one to shout something and Mugen laughed at her. There was the unmistakable thud of someone being kicked and then he stopped laughing and was yelling back. Fuu winced as she heard more recognizable sounds of a struggle, but it didn't last long. Soon there was a deep chuckle followed by an exasperated retort.

Then very different sounds were floating into her room and the young woman rolled her eyes. "Oh brother," she muttered. "I'm surprised they don't have _four_ kids already."


	13. Silence

Part Thirteen:

Silence

After making their decision to stay, another night passed without incident, but Fuu could see Shino and Yatsuha getting a bit antsy. The next night after dinner, she gathered the two of them in her guestroom and provided some distraction by giving them manicures.

"You think the men-folk are alright on their own?" Yastuha asked sardonically as Fuu painted tiny lilies on Shino's thumbnails. "We wouldn't want them tearing the house down with any more of their antics."

"They've got it out of their systems," Fuu grinned. "The house is safe, for now."

Yatsuha smiled too. "You know, I'm actually kind of proud of Mugen."

Shino shifted a blank face up at her then back to her transforming nails without saying anything.

"How come?" Fuu inquired in a teasing voice. "Did he say 'please' for the first time?"

"Ha! Only if he wants sex," the kunoichi laughed. "No, actually I was thinking about everything that's going on. I can see now that he wanted to come here to warn Jin. And now he's sticking around to help."

Shino did smile slightly then, and Fuu beamed cheerily, saying, "Yeah…"

'_The promise of a good fight was probably a bigger factor in his thought process_,' she thought to herself. '_But there's no reason to bring that up to his wife_.'

"Of course, I bet he's really looking forward to the fight too," Yatsuha admitted, shrugging.

Once again Yatsuha seemed to have read her mind and Fuu had to hold back a laugh as she focused on the last of Shino's nails. She had used a light blue color with white lilies streaked in yellow because the pattern seemed to suit the hostess's personality.

"They're beautiful, Fuu," said Shino, admiring her finished fingertips.

"I'm glad you like them," Fuu replied brightly. "I can't believe my paints were still in my bag. You're next, Yatsuha."

As Yatsuha held out her hands, Fuu withdrew several more pigments from her bag. She used a gold color first and started to drip little red dots on top, but the tiny spots reminded her so strongly of splattered blood at that moment that she ended up turning them into flowers instead. She finished dotting each flower with a black center and leaned back to let Yatsuha have her hands back. The ninja looked absolutely thrilled with her first manicure and gently blew on her nails to help them dry.

"I think mine are dry enough for me to make us some tea," Shino told them as she rose to her feet. "I'll be back."

"It'd be a good time to check on the men too," Fuu added with a small grin.

Leaving the room and passing through the sitting room on her way to the kitchen, Shino caught sight of Jin polishing his sword on the floor. Her stomach gave a little twist as thoughts of the battle to come revisited her mind, distracting her so thoroughly that she nearly tripped over Mugen asleep on a cushion not far away. Careful to step around him – though, he looked like wouldn't have woken up even if she had kicked him as hard as she could – she left the two men to themselves and entered the kitchen.

A few moments of silence passed in the sitting room, Jin intent on his sword and Mugen snoring steadily as he slept. Then, for no apparent reason, the samurai slowly pulled his eyes away from his blade and replaced it in his belt. He set the polishing cloth down and stood before walking to the back fusuma and sliding one open to peer out over the porch.

The cool night air drifted gently into the room as if it were the spirit of a beautiful woman who graced all within her reach with an eerie sort of calm. Jin took a deliberate breath as he stared off into the darkness.

The tender touch of the chilled air roused Mugen from his sleep and he sat up blearily. Seeing Jin standing at the door, he reluctantly got up and shuffled across the room to join him. He casually scratched his scalp through his mass of messy hair and frowned at the dim landscape beyond the terrace.

"Oh, hey…" he mumbled as if just noticing something.

"Yes," Jin acknowledged.

Mugen stretched his arms and shoulders to work the sleep out of them. "Just like old times, huh?"

"Hmm…"

Without another word, the two men drew their swords and – one going left, the other right – vanished into the shadows.

Meanwhile, inside the kitchen, Shino paused as she poured tea into a cup, suddenly overwhelmed by a tense feeling. Similarly in the guestroom, Yatsuha cut off Fuu in the middle of a sentence by pressing a finger to her lips.

The night had become much too quiet outside…


	14. Ninja

Part Fourteen:

Ninja

Shino didn't hear anyone enter the kitchen, but rather felt them. Spinning around, she was surprised by the ninja's speed as he lunged for her. She was unaware of her own movement as self defense reflexively took over, making her reach out for the nearest weapon. A gleam of silver flashed before her eyes just as a sharp pain exploded in her left shoulder. She and the ninja uttered simultaneous shouts of agony.

For a second, as she breathed in gasps from the throbbing in her shoulder, they stood staring at each other and she thought she had missed. However, a trickle of blood suddenly ran down his forehead and into his eyes before he crumpled to the floor. He had hit her with something very hard and blunt, but for all his swift movements, he hadn't been able to avoid a wok to the head.

Shino bent to pick up her frying pan in case she had to use it again. Her left arm ached and felt uselessly heavy. Glancing down at the unconscious man, she saw a small ring on his middle finger equipped with a small wooden notch for hitting pressure points. Cursing him, she seized an additional weapon before leaving the kitchen – the knife she used for cutting eel.

In the guestroom, Fuu and Yatsuha were having their own problems.

Yatsuha was fighting hand to hand with a ninja who had jumped through the window seconds before. She punctuated each strike with a sharp exclamation and dodged his every move.

Fuu, on the other hand, was currently wrestling with another man who had stopped her as she tried to run out of the room. He held her wrist with one hand and the fingers of the other were tugging at the sideways knot of her hair to pull her head back. Unable to break his grip, she was forced against a wall.

"Where is the samurai?" shouted her subjugator to the man fighting Yatsuha.

"_I'm busy_!" the other ninja replied angrily as he avoided Yatsuha's speeding fist.

"Let me go!" Fuu cried irately, but he fiercely jerked her head backwards by her hair and she grunted in pain.

A split second later she squeaked in fright as the other ninja's face suddenly appeared next to hers, smashing into the wall. Yatsuha had spun around and hit him in the head with the back of her raised elbow. His eyes rolled back and he slid to the floor in a heap.

Fuu's captor called Yatsuha a rude name and she felt his fingers release her hair and fumble at his side. Thinking fast, she mule-kicked him in the groin before he could draw his weapon and he released her wrist at last.

Yatsuha grabbed the knife he was reaching for and slashed him across the face with it. He tumbled to his knees, howling, and Fuu clutched at the wall to keep herself from joining him on the floor.

"Ahh!" she exclaimed as another set of fingers suddenly wrapped around her upper arm.

But it was only Yatsuha trying to get her to move. "Hurry!" snapped the kunoichi. "Let's get out of here."

Fuu followed her into the hall where they found four more ninjas skulking around the other doors. "Crap," muttered Yatsuha as all four of them looked around at the two women.

Fuu held back a whimper of terror as they advanced and she unsheathed her little pink-handled blade for protection. Yatsuha made a fighting stance, nearly lost her balance, and frowned down at her legs which were being restrained by the long fabric of her kimono. Rather than waist time fumbling to loosen her obi, she used the borrowed knife in her hand to slice open the right side of her kimono from thigh to ankle.

"There," she said, making a successful stance this time and revealing her shapely leg in the process. "Bring it on, you bastard shinobi wannabes."

And they did. Despite her skill, her swiftness, and her fury, Yatsuha was having a hard time fighting them all on her own. Afraid of getting in the way of the multiple ninjaken spinning about the narrow space and already forced into a squatting position to avoid being hit by shuriken, Fuu hesitated. It was nearly impossible to find an opening in the fray and she didn't know exactly what to do once she saw one. She hadn't been in this much danger since being cornered on a cliff by the Hand of God, and then both Mugen and Jin had almost died.

She cursed herself for not learning from her mistakes and getting some lessons in combat.

"Fuu!" shouted someone from the other end of the hall.

Fuu peered between the five pairs of shuffling, shifting legs and saw Shino standing at the mouth of the sitting room looking stricken. "Fuu," she called again, "where are you?"

As the young woman opened her mouth to yell back, she was cut short by a man falling dead at her feet. "AIEE!"

She whirled, wide-eyed, and saw Yatsuha kick another ninja in the face, smashing his nose flat.

"Go with her!" Yatsuha shouted urgently. "You two get out!"

Blood was dripping off of her from somewhere, but Fuu couldn't tell where. "What about…"

"Just do it, will ya!"

Fuu nodded and rapidly gathered up her courage before darting by the fight to where Shino was frantically motioning for her to hurry. She had a strange bowl-shaped frying pan in her hand, but Fuu didn't really care to ask what it was at that moment. Together, they darted to the front door, where they were quickly halted by three more men. Each man held a deadly weapon toward them and advanced assuredly.

"Evening, ladies," one said with a nasty sneer.

Shino took a shuddering breath beside Fuu and suddenly screamed: "JIN!"

The desperate voice carried into the garden, where two black shapes were sweeping over the landscape, moving so fast it was impossible to tell one from the other as they fought. Swords – one a katana, the other a ninjato – thrashed against each other, ringing in protest as the fight abruptly became more insistent. With a resounding clang the ninjato flew into the air away from its master's grip. Lit by the moon above, the katana bit savagely across the assassin's midriff. The wounded man slumped against a tree and before he could make another move, his opponent had snatched the ninjato out of nowhere as it fell from the sky and pinned him to the trunk by his bicep.

Jin left the man there and sped toward the house, vaguely registering that someone was fighting on his roof, before being intercepted by yet another ninja.

"Where you running to, samurai?" jeered the man.

Jin frowned at him and they squared off.

"Wherever it was, you're not gonna make it," the ninja continued overconfidently.

They lunged – or rather, Jin did while the ninja merely acted like he would. He flung two small, oddly-shaped objects to the ground and an explosion of sparks blinded the samurai.


	15. Bloodstains

Part Fifteen:

Bloodstains

Mugen spun around on the roof, balancing on one hand, and kicked at the ninja he was fighting. The man dodged him by jumping over his swinging legs but he slipped on the slick roof tiles when he landed. Reaching out haphazardly, he caught hold of the hem of Mugen's gi to keep from falling over the side and ended up dragging them both very close to the edge. Growling in annoyance, Mugen raised his sword again. However a bright spray of sparks appeared from the side of the house and distracted them both.

Soon afterward, the dazzling show ended and the two men-for-hire got back on track. Mugen finally brought down his sword, severing the hem of his shirt where the ninja was clinging and causing him to slide over the rim. The man grasped desperately at the smooth tiles only to loose even more purchase, most of his body dangling in space.

Smirking at the poor fellow's hopeless situation, Mugen planted his feet firmly on the tiles and bent forward. "Sucks to be you, buddy," he said before cutting off the ninja's topknot in one swipe.

"You trash!" snarled the insulted man, his eyes burning lividly. "Who do you think you are?"

Mugen only grinned wider. "Does it really matter? You're just gonna die in a second anyway."

With a roar of rage, the ninja made one last effort and pulled himself up enough to get a better hold. By the time he realized what the guy was actually doing, Mugen couldn't get out of the way fast enough and was stabbed through the foot with a bo-shuriken.

Cursing at the top of his lungs, Mugen slashed at the ninja with his sword and sent him careening to the ground, where he landed spread-eagle and bloody. Grunting painfully, he wrenched the little weapon out of his flesh and angrily hurled it as far as he could. He grumbled in irritation while he limped toward the lowest end of the roof and leapt off into a black pine where he knew another man was hiding.

On the other side of the house, Jin (still somewhat blind from his opponent's pyrotechnics) was kicked into a wall and got the breath knocked out of him. However, the other man shouted in hurt surprise and stumbled backward. There was a yawning gash in his calf, complements of Jin's katana.

"UURRGH! My leg!" he cried through clenched teeth.

Jin, gradually recovering his breath, cut him down with a single slash and sprinted toward the front of the house. He turned the corner and was nearly taken down by someone pitching off the porch. He slid to a stop just in time and looked around at the outburst that ensued.

"Hey! Great shot, Shino!" Fuu commended.

A plainly terrified Shino stood next to her still holding up a large metal wok in her right hand. The two ninjas left on the porch stared at her cautiously for a second.

"Holy crap," one said.

"Get 'em," snapped the other.

The two women armed themselves with knives even as they shrank from their attackers, but there was no need.

"Get away from my wife," Jin snarled as he charged.

The ninjas hesitated a split second too long and were soon face down on the porch.

"You did hear me," Shino breathed, flinging herself into his arms so fast that he had to drop his katana so she wouldn't get cut.

"I think the entire district heard you," he commented flatly as he held her.

Fuu sighed, equally relieved to see him, and began to put away her pink tanto.

"Keep that out," Jin warned, "there are more of them."

"Oh," she said in a shaky voice. Then her eyes suddenly grew enormously round and she gasped. "Yatsuha! Oh my God!"

Just as she started to turn back into the house she was stopped by Shino shouting: "Jin, watch out!"

The unarmed samurai twisted around in time to see one of the fallen ninja unexpectedly on his feet and striking. Blood splattered the porch.

Meanwhile inside the house, Yatsuha hit the floor, her head reeling after a particularly rough hit. It was just her and the last of the four men fighting in the hall now. She'd lost all her weapons and was trying to see through the stars swimming in front of her eyes before she ended up dead.

Sitting up against the wall, she made out the form of her adversary swiftly snatching up a dropped ninjaken. She screwed her eyes shut for an instant to clear them and, upon opening them, found him looming over her. She knew she wouldn't be able to block him in time… Fear gripped her as the dagger arced downward.

Without warning, someone slid between her and the assailant. A red-clad back was pressed against her and she breathed the familiar scent of her husband's scruffy hair. He had dived in front of her and stuck out one of his long skinny legs, blocking the descent of the ninjaken with his metal-soled shoe.

In a flash, he was back on his feet and the surprised ninja didn't last long. Once the fourth man had joined his fellows on the floor, Mugen bent to pull Yatsuha up by the arm. "Geez," he sneered, "you must be losing your touch."

She snorted contemptuously. "I've gotten _five_ already, thank you very– Mugen! What happened to your foot?"

He glanced at his wounded foot as it seeped blood on his shoe and the floor. "Looks like it got stabbed," he replied indifferently. "What happened to you're arm?"

"…The same."

At that moment Fuu, Jin, and Shino rushed inside from the porch.

"Are you two okay?" Fuu asked anxiously.

Neither of them really answered her, but Mugen pointed at the large blood stains on her kimono, saying, "Don't tell me you actually fought someone."

"No," she said, looking pale, "some guy tried to stab Jin in the back so Shino cut off his fingers with an eel knife. He fell on me…"

There was a resonant bang somewhere outside the sitting room and Jin spun on his heal to face the newest attack at the front door. Mugen bounded out of the hall to partake in more bloodshed and Shino traded places with him, joining Yatsuha and Fuu.

Two simultaneous explosions blasted in both doors, forcing the men to shield themselves from a storm of splintered wood. Fuu cried out and Shino clutched her arm in terror.

Then smoke began to fill the room, engulfing Mugen and Jin.


	16. Interrogation

Part Sixteen:

Interrogation

The furious clash of weapons could be heard within the dense cloud, but only vague movement was discernible. Fuu squinted against the fog as it stung her eyes but she couldn't look away. Where were Mugen and Jin?

The thick, wet sound of flesh being cleaved by metal reached her ears and she felt bile rise in her throat. There was a disembodied groan as someone died, shortly followed by another on the other side of the room.

Some of the fog shifted and she thought she could see Mugen's red gi. She felt Yatsuha tense beside her as the crimson form crumbled to the tatami, but they soon saw it was one of the ninjas, drenched in his own blood. As he lay still where he fell, Fuu couldn't believe how relieved she was to see a dead man.

More shadowy movement stirred the heavy smoke, but it was thinning, dispersing into the night through the smashed doors. A blur of silver and blue was momentarily visible and Fuu was sure she saw Jin's dark hair whip around as he turned. He was gone as quickly as he had appeared, leaving behind an abrupt spray of blood and a suddenly quiet figure propped against the wall.

A final clang of swords and knives rang through the sitting room before all went silent.

The women waited for what seemed like an eternity as the smoke continued to fade, floating into the hall to surround them as well. Fuu could see the now misty form of Shino beside her take a hesitant step forward, her eel knife at the ready, but they didn't have to stop her.

A soft breeze that seemed to have no place in the violent scene blew in through one door and out of the other, slowly taking most of the fog with it. Jin was visible first, standing in the middle of the room. His katana flush against the neck of a ninja kneeling before him. Blood dripped between them from their joined left hands, and Fuu could see that Jin had blocked a shuriken in the man's protected hand with his open palm.

Two more figures were on the floor behind Jin, one sitting on top of the other. Through the lingering smoke, it was impossible to tell one scruffy head from the other, but then one of them spoke:

"Smoke bombs?" Mugen sneered. "Sparks would have been the smarter way to go." He was straddling his hostage's back and holding his head up by a handful of messy hair to better press a knife to his throat.

Yatsuha made an approving noise at her husband's comment and quickly left Fuu and Shino to make sure the four fallen men around the room were indeed dead. Jin carefully pulled his hand away from the star shuriken before snatching it away and tossing it over his shoulder where it bounced harmlessly off of Mugen's back. His sword never lifted from the other man's neck as he started asking questions:

"Did the widow hire you?" he said to his kneeling hostage.

"Go to hell!" answered the ninja trapped under Mugen instead.

"Hey, shut up," Mugen snapped.

"No. A Magistrate hired us," the first ninja quickly replied, eyeing the samurai sword apprehensively.

"Did he tell you why?" asked Jin.

"The higher-ups – well, the Magistrate is concerned about your presence in the town. He said you were giving the villagers ideas," said the other man quickly. "They're starting to question the management –"

"Traitor!" barked the second ninja heatedly. Mugen, still holding him by the hair, smacked his face into the floor.

"He knows he's terrible to the people and was afraid you'd form an uprising against him. He was afraid you'd kill him –"

"– Stop talking!"

"_I_ don't want to die!" the first ninja replied defiantly as sweat trickled down his brow.

"Then you're a coward!"

Mugen growled threateningly and lined his knife up with the belligerent man's throat again. "If you're gonna be uncooperative, maybe we should get rid of you now."

"It would be an honorable death," he retorted severely.

Mugen grinned nastily down at him. "Heh. There's nothing 'honorable' about the way _I'll_ kill you."

Then Jin was talking again: "So Hisakawa's widow wasn't behind this?"

"I wouldn't go that far," the kneeling man told him. "She convinced him to take action. Her complaints about her husband's house going to a ronin instead of her were just an excuse for him to act on his thoughts. He's hired us for lesser annoyances, but never on this kind of scale."

"What's with all the questions?" demanded Mugen, mashing his captive's face back and forth on the bamboo mat just to irritate him. "We already know all this stuff."

Jin's eyes narrowed a fraction. "I just wanted to know who I needed to kill first," he answered grimly.

"Now wait a second!" Shino interrupted, just as Fuu cried, "Hang on, guys!"

Mugen, Jin, and Yatsuha all glared at them impatiently.

Shino stepped closer to her husband. "It's one thing to protect our home, but –"

"You don't think getting rid of those two would protect our home?" Jin countered suddenly.

"You're talking about murdering a Magistrate! Don't you think the list of reasons people want to kill you for is long enough?"

"I notice you aren't objecting to the idea of killing Hisakawa Hitomi…"

"I never said I wanted that either!"

Fuu looked between the two of them uneasily. It was awkward seeing them argue.

"Look," Yatsuha jumped in before Jin could reply, "whether we kill them or not, something has to be done. Once he finds out we've taken down twenty shinobi in one night, the Magistrate is only going to panic more. He'll just find someone else to come out here and finish what these guys started."

"He'd have to pay us a lot more," commented the kneeling ninja dryly.

"So, what's the plan?" Mugen asked, frowning. "Are we killin' them or not?"

They all paused for a moment. Jin glared at his bloody palm and Mugen grimaced, obviously put out by the hesitation. Fuu held her breath, waiting.

"I can't kill Hisakawa's wife," Jin said at last, answered by an exasperated eye-roll from Mugen. "However, the Magistrate must be dealt with."


	17. Magistrate

Part Seventeen:

Magistrate

A rotund fifty-year-old man stood in the courtyard of his lavish home, fidgeting anxiously with the hem of his sleeve. '_How long is this going to take_?' he wondered as he stared at the stars over his head.

"Sir?"

The Magistrate whipped around and scowled at the owner of the weak little voice: a young servant girl in his household that did odd jobs. "What is it?" he barked impatiently.

"Th-there is a visitor at the front door who won't tell me his name. Should I show him in?" she squeaked quickly.

The magistrate muttered something about the uselessness of his entire staff before finally barking at her: "Yes! I've been waiting all night!"

The girl spun around and went back inside as swiftly as possible.

A slight rustle sounded in the leaves of the tree above the Magistrate's head and he lifted his face to cool his sweaty brow but no breeze came. Thinking this odd, but unimportant, he started to pace as he awaited his guest, feeling torn between an anxiety attack and a rampage.

He was just taking a breath to shout for the servant girl again when a stranger's voice startled him into silence:

"What's up, fatass?"

The Magistrate whirled around to face his guest with a look of outrage. "I beg your pardon?"

The shabby looking fellow smirked and said, "You'll be begging for a lot more than that before we get done with you."

"W-we?" stammered the old man as he glanced around furtively. "Who are you? You're not the man I spoke to earlier. Are you with the clan?"

The stranger chuckled and his eyes shifted to the tree behind the Magistrate. An instant later there was a soft thump behind him and a familiarly aloof voice joined the meeting.

"Don't you think it's a bit inconvenient that I have to scale your garden wall to pay you a visit, Magistrate?" Jin asked.

The Magistrate's eyes grew enormously round as he slowly turned to look at his adversary. "This i-isn't possible… you – you can't… Someone help! Heeelp!"

"Your guards are gone, Magistrate," Jin informed him.

The fat man swore as his panic grew and he continued to wail in distress: "HELP! HELP ME! SOMEONE HEEEELP!"

Without warning, the other man was behind him and a knife blade was gleaming before the Magistrate's face. "I'll give you two guesses where I'm gonna ram this if you don't shut up," warned the scruffy man, turning the knife in his fingers.

The Magistrate immediately bit his lips between his teeth, his eyes darting back and forth from the weapon to Jin, who was passively watching the scene going on in front of him.

"It's time we spoke privately, Magistrate," said the ronin. "Please come with us."

"Com'on, Lardo," the stranger sneered into his ear. Then he felt a harsh tug on the collar of his kimono and he was directed toward the door back into his house. Jin followed silently.

Once inside, the Magistrate's anxiety only grew because he could see they weren't stopping as they headed toward the front door. On the way there, he spotted the small oval face of the servant girl peering at them from around a doorframe.

"Girl!" the Magistrate cried at once. "Get help! These men want to kill me!"

The meek creature stepped out from behind the doorframe and stared at him uncertainly for a moment. Jin and his accomplice didn't slow down, but kept dragging him toward the exit.

"Get help you little fool! Can't you see they're dragging me to my death?"

As the front door was slid open and the Magistrate pulled through it, the young girl bowed and finally answered:

"Have a pleasant visit with your friends, Sir!" she called cheerfully, waving goodbye. "By the way, my _name_ is Miku, and I think now is a good time to tell you I'm quitting!"

Hopelessness engulfing him, the Magistrate cursed her and was forced to walk along the road between his captors with the knife still to his throat. As he waddled he looked all around for any possible getaway, but escape soon became clearly unlikely. His neighbors, who had probably heard the yelling, peered out at him through their windows before quickly closing their shades or disappearing into dark rooms. Some of the more bold men and women stared unsupportively as he passed their houses, their faces curious but unconcerned.

It didn't take long for him to realize this was his walk of shame.


	18. Beginnings

Part Eighteen:

Beginnings

The thoughts running through Jin's head were not pleasant ones. For a man trying to keep a low profile, very little good would come from kidnapping a Magistrate. Even if said Magistrate was entirely incompetent and ill fitted for his title, overthrowing him would no doubt bring about unforeseen consequences.

The portly, over empowered simpleton now marching between Jin and Mugen had carried his post for far too long without ever being of any real use to the town or the people living inside it. The Magistrate was and had always been a tiny man on a power trip.

Jin could still recall the first time he'd seen him on the same street they were walking down now. He had only been working for Hisakawa for three months (the longest period he'd kept a legitimate job at the time) and the Magistrate had just gotten back from some sort of vacation – most likely paid for by the towns people. That was nearly three years ago.

A crowd had formed on the well-worn road to watch the spectacle the Magistrate was making of a man who couldn't pay his taxes. Jin, walking with his employer to a teashop, saw the shamed villager on his knees in the dirt, glimpsing him only through the gaps of gathered locals. A teenage boy knelt beside him, sharing the burden of his father. Jin felt a twinge of déjà vu at the sight. His eyes narrowed – he hated tyrants more than anything.

The plump Magistrate ordered one of his hired dog samurai to make his point clearer to the bowing peasant and a sword was placed at the villager's throat, his son watching in terror.

Jin's hand went unconsciously to the hilt of his katana. He played out the scenario in his mind's eye: the samurai would be dead before a single drop of the poor villager's blood hit the ground. His muscles tensed, waiting, wanting an excuse to show this fool Magistrate and his pets that their power was far more limited than they realized.

However, in the next instant a hand clasped his shoulder and Jin glanced to the side, his eyes slits.

Hisakawa had noticed the scene, as well as his bodygaurd's intended actions. "The Magistrate is an idiot," he said in his wispy voice, "but not that much of an idiot. He doesn't have the stomach for blood on his streets."

Hisakawa Osamu was a very small old man, his body shrunken and twisted with age. The hand he had placed warningly on Jin's shoulder was missing all but two digits: his thumb and forefinger. His right hand was gnarly but wholly intact, grasping his walking cane and keeping his unsteady legs balanced where he stood.

It was in moments like those when Jin saw the lingering strength in his employer's ancient eyes. Hisakawa in his youth, though obviously not a large man, had been a powerful samurai with big talents and a legendary reputation within the village. The older locals spoke of his deeds with a kind of reverence usually reserved for shoguns. He had journeyed to many places but always returned to his home by the stream, bringing back stories of his travels. The strong, courageous man who had fought and survived many battles and brought honor to this meager community was still very much alive inside his now withered and over taxed vessel; however, no amount of good care and finely tuned training could preserve a person forever.

Hisakawa's formerly deadly hands were worn and trembling, barely able to grasp a soup spoon, much less a katana. Unable to even stand without the support of his cane, but unwilling to honorably end his life when he still had something left to give, he had taken on a body guard to protect him from his enemies and their descendants who continued to hunt him. Jin was his second guard, as the first had died while defending the old man from one of these enemies seeking revenge. Of course, Jin was probably the most talented samurai Hisakawa could have stumbled upon, so he had lasted much longer than the previous fellow.

"See," continued Hisakawa, pointing with the only good finger of his left hand. "He's already lost his nerve."

Jin turned his attention back to the Magistrate, who was calling off his goon, saying that would be enough of a warning for now, ordering the man to pay his dues or suffer the consequences. The samurai smirked and kicked dirt in the poor man's face before turning and leaving with his boss.

"I would not have moved until it became necessary," Jin told Hisawaka flatly, slightly offended at being held back as if he were a hotheaded boy.

"Yes, but you're supposed to be protecting me, not everyone in town," the old man chuckled. "After all, what would I do for a body guard if you were killed?"

"I wouldn't have lost," Jin answered bluntly.

A moment passed in which Hisakawa regarded him, a glint of knowing in his yellowed eyes. Then a mirthless smile tugged up the wrinkles around his mouth and creased his face in several places. It was a cocky expression belonging to a much younger man and it didn't fit his ancient visage. "I know you wouldn't," he said. "But winning and living are two different things. Sometimes, in order to do both, you have to wait for the right time to act. Besides, there's no getting rid of a Magistrate – he's one of those pests that always seem to survive. His removal from office will come eventually, only to be replaced by the next rat they instate. There are bigger battles to be won."

At that moment the poor villager and his son walked nearby the former samurai and his body guard, their eyes fixed on the ground in embarrassment as they worked their way out of the crowd of locals and neighbors.

"Kai," called Hisakawa suddenly, making the villager jump and look around. "Join an old man for tea. I'm looking for an excuse to escape the Missus for a little while longer and my bodyguard isn't much for conversation…"

The man and his son looked surprised by the offer but Kai eventually nodded and soberly followed slow-moving Hisakawa toward the nearest tea shop. "Thank you, Hisakawa-sama," he said gratefully as the old man handed him a cloth to wipe the dirt from his face.

His thoughts coming back to the present, Jin vaguely registered Mugan's childish taunts at the Magistrate's expense as they walked on. They were close to their destination now.

"I hope you realize you'll never get away with this," blustered the Magistrate angrily as Mugen chuckled darkly.

"If there's one thing I'm good at, tubby," he said with a sneer, "it's anarchy. You're the one who should be worried."

The garden wall came into view and Jin stared at his home thoughtfully.

_Winning and living are two different things_…

But something had to be done, he told himself. Whether or not it was the best time, taking action was necessary. He just hoped he wasn't bringing the roof down on his and his wife's heads.

Sighing quietly, he briefly closed his eyes. Life had been so much easier when he'd had nothing to lose.


	19. Endings

Part Nineteen:

Endings

"You can't do this!" screeched Hitomi furiously for maybe the fiftieth time. "I'm a woman, I'm unarmed, and this is my home!" She was wearing a simple black kimono that made the silver in her hair stand out more than she probably realized and her face looked very much her age at the moment. She obviously hadn't been expecting late night 'visitors.'

"Let's get this straight, Ma'am," Yatsuha spoke up, not lowering her ninjaken from the older woman's robust chest. "I _can_ do this: I'm a _kunoichi_, I _am_ armed, and I _don't_ practice Bushido, so none of those rules of etiquette apply to me. In fact, my clan's code of ethics is very lax when it comes to dealing with people like you. So just shut it."

"How dare you! And calling me _Ma'am_ on top of everything…"

As their newest captive raved on, Fuu observed from her seat on the floor and drummed her fingers on her leg anxiously. She was guarding the two bound ninja men in one corner while Yatsuha kept Hisakawa Hitomi on the other side of the room and Shino walked from one window to the next looking for Mugen and Jin.

"You people are crazy," said the ninja who had given them information earlier.

Fuu raised her eyebrows at him and his pouting, messy haired comrade. "Can you honestly tell me that in your line of work you've _never_ met anyone crazier?"

"Yeah," he nodded meaningfully, "I can definitely say that."

Fuu sighed resignedly. "I knew it."

"Where are they?" Shino said anxiously as she searched the dark street outside through the front window.

"Maybe the Magistrate is giving them trouble," Fuu reasoned. "I'm sure they'll be here soon."

Silence stretched out between the women and their captives – with the exception of Hitomi, who continued to rant and mutter her displeasure despite the fact that no one was listening. Fuu frowned at the floor. What would happen to them after tonight? Before, when it had just been her and the guys, fate had seemed to be the only thing on their side in the end. That and the shear force of Mugen and Jin's will to live. So much was different now that they had divided and started separate lives. They couldn't just take off and head for the hills like they used to. They each had a place to return to. People and lives to look after.

They were like three strays that had finally been given homes but were still acting like wild animals. Jin would always be a warrior, Mugen would always cause trouble, and Fuu would always scold them tactlessly at the top of her lungs. They could handle various forms of combat and authority problems, but maybe they simply weren't cut out for the quieter sort of life. Didn't the current situation prove that?

Her thoughts stopped short as the front door slid open, and shoved through it was a chubby man with a pathetic goatee wearing fine house clothes. Mugen and Jin followed wordlessly.

Shino rushed back into the sitting area from one of the side rooms, the relief plain on her face. "I saw movement in the garden and I thought you might have taken him through our property," she babbled shortly. "What took so long?"

"You mean _my_ property," Hitomi snarled next to Yatsuha.

"What have you done, Hitomi?" the Magristrate demanded. "Can't you keep your big mouth shut for once in your life?"

"ME?" screeched Hitomi. "This is all _your_ doing! I thought you were going to fix this mess! Where did you find those ninja? Did you just round up the first group of imbeciles you saw with throwing stars?"

"Hey! I resent that!" snapped the ill tempered ninja, he and the other man glaring at her.

The Magistrate's face sped through several emotions in succession (alarm, fury, anxiety, and forced calm, all in one round-cheeked package) when he spotted the last remaining men he had hired to kill Jin bound on the floor.

"I can see things are sinking in, Magistrate," Jin said at last. "Now it is indeed time to 'fix this mess'."

Mugen sneered and whipped out his knife once more. Yatsuha nudged him in the ribs and shook her head, "Not yet." His scowl was only answered by a warning arch of her eyebrows.

Jin continued: "If you don't stop threatening me and my wife, you'll have much more to worry about than my opposing views on the way you treat this town. As you can see, I don't need to hire anyone to take care of my problems – I'll deal with you personally."

The Magistrate's forehead was beading with sweat and his wide eyes never left the samurai where he stood, back straight, with one hand on the hilt of his katana.

Fuu realized what was not being said was that they knew facing Jin on his own was the Magistrate's greatest fear. The wall of law-power and bodyguards had been swiftly and thoroughly removed tonight, and would be again if he put a toe out of line in the future. This was his one and only warning.

"Y-you mean, you're not going to kill me?" asked the portly man, still eying Jin worriedly.

"Lame…" Mugen muttered disappointedly.

"I don't have to," Jin flatly replied. "Tomorrow you'll resign from your post and leave town."

"_What_?"

Yatsuha spoke up then. "You'll resign, or I'll report you to my clan for gypping us on our pay and you'll be chased down."

"B-but you didn't finish the job!" cried the Magistrate irately. "You even helped take me hostage! And besides, I paid you up front!"

"Not if I say different," Yatsuha smirked. "Who do you think the clan will believe? Me, or a stranger who'd sooner mess his pants than defend himself?"

"Well, they've certainly got you pegged," Hitomi cackled at the Magistrate.

"Quiet you," Shino hissed suddenly. "You're a conniving bitch, and you're even worse than he is. I've only put up with you for this long because of my husband's respect for Hisakawa – but now you have to leave."

"You can't –"

"I know what you're about to say," Shino said, the sharpness of her tone enough to cut off the other woman without using volume. "And let's get one thing straight before you start packing. This is _my_ home. You're just a squatter on the edge of it. Now take what's left of your money and belongings and go."

"Were do you expect me to go?" Hitomi asked imperiously, though her face was showing the first signs of desperation.

"Anywhere but here. If you can't accomplish that, I know of a convent in Hamamatsu that can put you to work."

The widow looked down right horrified at the thought of living in a convent.

"Well this is boring," Mugen complained again.

"Why are you so eager to kill more people?" Fuu barked. "You just repainted Jin's house with the blood of eighteen assassins!"

He pulled an exasperated face.

"No!" the Magistrate shouted without warning. "You can't do this! I won't let you take my life away! I'll never resign! Do you hear me? _Never_!"

Jin's jaw set. "You'd rather die?"

"You can't kill me. You'd be run out of town by the law. You and your pathetic little friends would be hunted like dogs and cut down in the street. Taking my life would be as good as taking your own! I'll never let you win! I'll – _gurk_!"

After a single surprised gasp from Fuu, silence abruptly took the room. The Magistrate's eyes bulged for a moment before blood started seeping slowly from his lips like water from an obstinate pump. He was suspended in place for a few seconds, giving everyone just enough time to realize there were now ten people in the room where there had only been nine before. Then the Magistrate crumpled facedown onto the tatami and lay still, a stab wound oozing on his back.

Swords rang from Mugen and Jin's scabbards, but the unexpected visitor didn't so much as flinch. He wiped the Magistrate's blood from his dagger and placed it back in a sheath on his thigh. Dark hair hung on either side of his unexpressive face and a fan symbol was stitched onto the arm of his shirt.

"Excuse my intrusion," he said in a dull businesslike tone.

"Oh my god," breathed one of the tied up ninja behind Fuu.

"Who the hell are you?" Mugen asked.

The hit man answered in the same voice as before: "I'm acting on the behalf of my family – who, incidentally, _did_ do their job for this man but were _not_ paid for it."

Jin frowned and Mugen looked unimpressed. Shino and Fuu kept peering back and forth between the now dead Magistrate and his killer. Hitomi's gaze was focused on his family emblem as she remained perfectly still, possibly worried he might strike her next if she so much as twitched.

"Sorry again," said the stranger as he turned his back on them and headed for the door none of them had noticed hanging wide open. As he passed her, he nodded stiffly to Yatsuha, who curtly returned it. Then he quite literally disappeared into the night.

"Who was that guy?" Mugen demanded once more, this time giving his wife an indignant stare.

"A ninja from one of the most terrifying clans you'll ever see," replied one of the detained ninja, his eyes round in amazement.

"Or not see," added his comrade.

"Who?" said Fuu, confused.

"Well, there are only three halfway decent ninja clans left this side of the mainland," Yatsuha explained, "and it looks as though the Magistrate has hired them all but chose to screw over the wrong one."

Hitomi cautiously leaned over the dead man pooling blood on her floor. "No wonder you didn't want to hire them for this job…" she said to his quiet form. Swallowing hard, she turned her narrowed eyes toward Jin. "H-how long do I have to pack?" she inquired, suddenly much more cooperative.


	20. Settling

Part Twenty:

Settling

A lazy wind played through the maple leaves in the front garden, moving a group of clouds overhead and creating intervals of sun and shade. Fuu and Yatsuha hugged Shino farewell as the men stood back, completely detached emotionally as usual.

Shino shoved three sacks full of food into their arms for their journey. "Thank you for everything," she said, her smile a little sad. "Please take care of yourselves."

"You too," Fuu replied as she squeezed the other woman's hand. Then she beamed at Jin and pounced on him for one last hug before they took to the road. "Stay on the good side of the next Magistrate who's instated, okay?"

"I'll try," he replied noncommittally.

"C'mon," Mugen groaned. "We ain't got all day."

The women followed him out of the garden, both peering back, loath to leave the beautiful place their friends had settled at.

"Jeez," Yatsuha sighed. "You should work harder so we can have a place like that," she said to Mugen as she strode up to him and hooked her arm under his.

"Why? A place like that'd just be in shambles if we lived in it," he grumbled back. "And if you want it so bad, make the money yourself."

Yatsuha pouted childishly. "But I can't! I'm pregnant."

"Looks like you're stuck in our crappy house then."

"Hmmm. If you keep intentionally failing missions like this, my brother will just have one more reason to gripe at me about you. Oooh, and his childless biddy of a wife can snap at me all day when she comes over for tea. Yay… For all the trouble you cause me, you could at least provide me a better living space."

Fuu thought of something suddenly and said, "Hey, Yatsuha, you risked a lot fighting those ninja guys before. God, I'm such an idiot! I should have helped you! You don't think the baby would be hurt do you?"

The kunoichi scoffed and waved her hand dismissively as if Fuu had just pointed out something as trivial as a speck of dirt on her kimono. "Not this kid," she replied casually, putting a hand to her still flat belly. "No child of mine is that delicate. Besides, I wouldn't let those scum hit anywhere near my precious baby. My arms and legs hurt like hell from blocking though."

As they walked past the modest entrance to Hisakawa Hitomi's home they noticed a couple of the aforementioned scum moving crates onto a cart hitched to a ragtag gelding with a missing ear. "'Morning!" called the man who had given them information the night before.

"Hey! I thought you'd left!" Fuu barked at him and the other previously captured ninja helping him hoist crates into the cart.

"It's none of your business what we do," the surlier of the two growled.

"The widow woman hired us to pack up her house," the talkative ninja informed her, much to the chagrin of his companion. "Might as well make some sort of profit since we won't be getting the second payment from our last job."

"Good luck with that," Mugen said glibly as they kept walking.

"Go to hell you – "

The friendly ninja smacked his friend in the back of the head before he could say anymore. "Have a nice day!" he nervously called after them, waving at their backs.

The journey back seemed shorter than before but after a few nights spent of the forest floor, Fuu was ready to see her own bed again. Her thirst for travel was thoroughly quenched for now. However, the roofline of her familiar town popped into view quite suddenly on the third day and she found herself feeling gloomy as they stood at a crossroads, ready to part ways.

She told her friends goodbye and struggled not to get teary. She told Mugen to look after Yatsuha and forced him into a hug before he could shrug her off. Yatsuha promised to write and tell her as soon as the baby was born. Then they disappeared down one street and she took the other, heading home at last.

Coming up on her tearoom, Fuu sighed and pulled her bag off her shoulder in a preemptive move to throw it down the moment she entered the door. She suddenly felt overwhelmingly tired and didn't notice someone walking up in the opposite direction.

"Fuu!" cried Goro's friendly voice. "You're back!"

The woman looked around at him and grinned. "Yeah. Sorry I left so suddenly. I hope I didn't lose any customers while I was gone," she said.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about," he assured her. "I have missed having decent tea, though. It'll be nice having you back."

Fuu chuckled and considered him for a moment. "Would you like to come in? I'll put on a pot for us."

His smile grew hugely. "Yes, please!"

A few minutes later, Fuu had put the tea in a pot to steep and took it into the sitting area where Goro was waiting at one of the tables.

"How are your vegetables doing?" she asked as she sat down opposite him.

"Haaa," he sighed, looking down at the table. "Not very well. I'm starting to think I don't make a very good gardener."

_Big shocker_, Fuu thought with a wry grin.

"I guess I'll have to find some other way of making a living. But how are you, Fuu? Where did you go? With those travelers?"

"Yeah. We had to help out an old friend of ours. Everything is worked out… I hope." She poured the tea, instinctively knowing it was ready. "I'd like to say everyone will be fine now, but I know they won't stay out of trouble for long. They've been wild too long to ever calm down properly."

Goro watched her understandingly, waiting for her to continue.

She sighed and propped her chin up on curled fingers. "Maybe I'm not so different from them. I wonder if I'll ever be able to settle down either…"

Her guest laughed a little. "There's no such thing as settling down," he said before taking a sip of tea. "What sort of life is settle? What's the point if you're not going to keep fighting and moving forward? You might as well stop breathing."

Fuu's large eyes settled on him and studied his kind face. She took in his words and swirled them around in her head the same way she would test a new tea flavor on her tongue.

"Haha! When you put it that way, I guess you're right," she responded at last, her mood considerably brightened. "I'd rather live than become stagnant."

He smiled back as steam rose from their cups and coiled between them.

"Do you think you'll be open tomorrow?" he asked after a few seconds.

"Hmm. Do you think you'll be coming by?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll be open," she said decisively.

"Great," he beamed.


End file.
